A Second Chance (Redwall Fanfic)

Dark Magic

A soft breeze blew off the wooden hull of the Musk Skull into the face of the lookout who remained perched above the grotesque figurehead. The rat took in the distant shore and the barren looking mountain before moving back, waving his hand to signal that the land was in site. The rat to which he signaled suddenly flinched, before speaking out loud to the weasel captain Hagen.

The captain was a huge weasel, his fur the color of sand. The rather large weasel moved slightly, his size and stature causing the rat to flinch. The fur was also covered with scars won through battle and a few seemed to become more grotesque as he moved. The rat slunk back as the captain spun on his heals, a white vixen with her red furred daughter following close on her heals.

The white vixen paused at first to speak with her daughter. "Tell Suna that there is a change in the meal plans as we are celebrating coming to this land that thing told us about."

The red vixon turned on the pads of her back paws and headed to the kitchen instead. A sandy colored vixen worked at the food preparations, her head coming up to acknowledge the other vixen was there. She listened to the instructions and set aside the preparations she made, slipping out the door and down the ladder into the hold to get the items needed to prepare the meal Hagen liked when he wished to celebrate something.

As she went back up she could hear the fearful mutterings from the rest of the rat crew. "I heard that Sibyl predicted another death. Proof is in the fact her fur is redder then it was before."

Suna's muzzle twisted into a frown upon hearing about her eldest sister. "If you're not careful they might send Saffron after you. You both know that they don't stand for anyone talking about captain Hagen or his favorites."

The two rats flinched and shook, but then one paused and relaxed. "Relax... it's just little Suna. She won't say anything to them, but we should take her word to heart about not speaking out."

"But she's one of them." The rat that was speaking must have been new, which explained why he was gossiping to the older rat about the superstitions that flew around the ship.

"Suna's different. The reason she's kept around is because she's good at cooking." The old rat raised an eyebrow. "Since there was a change in food plans you might sneak us some of the food you were originally going to prepare? Otherwise it knows you go to waste."

Suna didn't speak but simply went back to the kitchen, preparing the food for Hagen's dinner as well as the meal she had been working on before. When she was finished she set the food aside for someone to find if they came into the kitchen. She opened the door to the galley, only to find that a storm was brewing outside, which meant that Hagen was having her mother preform her dark magic as this was the perfect time to do so.

Most of the Musk Skull's crew was below deck waiting out the storm on the huge ship. It was best to let the huge waves sweep the ship on its course as despite having come in site of land they were far enough away that they wouldn't run aground. As it was the storm would tear the masts apart if they tried fighting against the storm. Most ships would have headed to shore when it was this close during such a storm, but Hagen only dry docked when he wished to actually go on land. This helped to instill more fear among his crew.

Suna opened the door of the hall that led to the captains quarters and headed through the dim light. The torches left an odd glow on her fur as well as the well worn wooden path. She knew that her mother as well as her other two sisters were up to something with the captain, but she always missed a good deal of it as she was busy preparing the food of the captain. It had something to do with acquiring the treasure of a particular land so that he could take over.

As she approached the door to cabin Suna saw it open and her two sisters step out, their fur gleaming in the torch light. Saffron just smiled an evil smile from her black muzzle, but then she had never spoken as far as Suna could remember. A frown came to the sandy vixen's muzzle as she wondered how intelligent the assassin was. It was the older of the two that choose to speak up. "What's taking the brown rat so long to come forward? We are about to begin and our lord is wanting for his food before we start."

Despite having an insult thrown at her she hurried forward with the food and through the door, her head bowed so that she didn't look anyone in the eye as was the custom. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a bank vole cowering in front of the weasel captain, who had his hand in a steal gauntlet. He leaned forward and sounded into the ear of the good beast in a cruel, raspy voice. "Tell me again about this abbey in this home land of yours. Is this land really worthy taking?"

"I tell you... sir... I have not said anything... that isn't... that isn't true. There... there really... really is a great... great stone building. It is said... the stories say... it's never been defeated. There is some great... some great... a power there. Rumor is... the tales say... a magical... magical sword. A sword from... the starts."

"Sanja..." The weasel suddenly let out a purring like sound, putting on all his charm. He stroked a dagger at his side. "Would you be able to summon to me this power from this abbey? Much like you summoned to me this dagger that was considered the weapon of the flea bitten dirt of our old land?"

"It wasn't hard to do that." The white vixen cooed back, stepping from the shadows.

"Depending on what the power is it will make me decide whether or not to leave this land or conquer it. If it is a weak land then there is no point in me even staying as the dirt is lower then dirt. But if it is strong the more I need to crush this land under this paw of mine. Begin Sanja."

The white vixen pushed forward a small table into the center and covered it with a cloth. She then laid out a basket on top of the table. On each corner a candle was placed and the basket was filled with a foul smelling plant that had been soaked in something for days. She then sprinkled grayish water over everything from a small flask she kept at her side. She then began to hum to the storm outside, her eyes rolling back into her head as she concentrated on what she was doing.

In the storm of time that brews outside

Let not the secret of the red stone hide

Bring to us the power that lies within

It matters not the level of din

It matters not the future to old

We wish for the power ever so bold

My master asks and always gets

Even if what holds does not lets

What ever the power is to be

I tie this powers sanctity to me

And that of my blood family

Let us this power now see

Take this power from the holder

Let this power belong to its new owner

I was then that all the lights went out in the cabin, leaving all those inside in darkness.

Author's note ~ This fanfic is an AU from the series as there are supernatural elements in this story where as Redwall never had supernatural elements.